Collecting Toy Soldiers – Page 9 – My Toy Soldiers & Me

Playmobil by GEOBRA

You know I am a 6mm orthodox (more or less) solo wargamer… a collector of 54mm Toy Soldiers (part of them used in traditional old style games)… but also a Playmobil fan with my grandchildren. Let me explain why… probably you do not care at all for those german toys (mainly quite pacific oriented!)… but some of us perversily used them in wargames and role-playing… LOL

As always a picture is worth a thousand words so here have some… have in mind I collected Playmobil soldiers mainly for years without knowing they could be dissembled and rebuilt exchanging parts!… quite easy once you know how… the method of kitchen scissors and a towel is my own as seen in YouTube!

Lets start with the US Cavalry (You all know I have a fixation with the French Foreign Legion thanks to P.C.Wren) but this is not my only obsession… John Ford and John Wayne (and Richard Widmark, Ben Johnson and a lot of other mainly from Ford’s stock company) plunged my young imagination into it… as Errol Flynn of course!

Well, here is a theme overdone by Playmobil thanks God! See some pics:

A tyiycall US Cavalry Trooper (1876) 7th Cavalry. Black hat.

Same as above dissembled (18 parts you can exchange at will) The only part not Playmobil standard is the resin carabine hand painted by me. Steiner models produces a range of weapons.

The head act as a plug that keeps the lot together (german engineering), actually a great idea that permits personalization.

More pics:

Same figure with kepi and saber goes to the ACW and the Michigan Brigade in a flash!

You like the Cavalry trilogy? a change of hat and there you are… as you have deduced the choice of weapons is a must… saber, revolver, carbine… you name it… bugle etc.

Another hat and the Apache wars comes to mind!

Many times only a change of hat does the trick! In subsequent entries you will be introduced to my battle of Dorking outfit (not related to Dorca at all) and will see how my French Foreign Legion Playmobils double as Prussians with the change of hat!

More will follow.

Enjoy!

The whole 7th (nearly sold them once! happy I did not.)

Francesco Thau’s Own 28mm

I am a huge fan of what Francesco does with 28mm Perry’s… unsurpassed IMHO… those mini dioramas are full of action and tasteful display (and some are standard figures or minis!)… mindblowing standard of painting if you ask me… not my favourite scale anymore… but dear me!… he tempts me everytime I see his works.

Enjoy!

Playmobil Russians (not available commercially of course)

Playmobil has a policy of not encouraging War Toys or Wargames (idiotic if you ask me when the most popular sales are the Pirate Ships… nothing worse than pirates in my book… and also produce Imperial Romans and even a Circus (Roman you know)… hundreds of fans indulge in making for themselves Napoleonic Armies (a forever popular addiction)… why Playmobil do not produce sets os soldiers or Military Bands eludes me completely… after all they do the pieces that you can collect bit by bit and then mount on… the most difficult part to get are Hats (some astute manufacturers in resin do) the rest is fairly easy to get. There are even flags adhesive manufactured! So there you have it we have those Armies after all… and Playmobil can manufacture James Bond Aston-Martin etc. Toy Soldiers are NOT their forte (a part from the ACW which they did!… and a lot of soldiers to do AWI/7YW… and cowboys and redskins)… a strange world we live in.

When Russians are made through customization…

Battle of Dorking with Playmobils

Well, this is a pic from ebay (and not a very good resolution) but once the parcel arrives I will substitute for another one… yoou get the idea I guess.

Better resolution on the General. (Quite true to size)

Rifles from Hilditch

Less than 54mm (series “B”) and still impressing.

I was personal yesterday, maybe even too personal… well, I can always edit the thing if I want… I do not know if being too personal is a bonus or a malus…

So, today let’s go back to the main line of this webpage… toy soldiers and those who enjoy them.

Here we go again!

Excuse me if you have already seen this pic (my own for a change) 75mm Customized Playmobil (Just the headgear I guess)

Congratulations to the British. The civic attitude was paramount and those public and privately professionally involved gave a lesson on “how it is done”. There is no better example to compare. Long live the King!

This webpage would again be alive as from today with the usual business of giving you your daily ration (or dose) of Toy Soldiers. Cheers.

Spencer Smith’s

I did never got into them in my wargaming period… and still I love them… so this is a kind of tribute to them and those who followed the path of wargaming a la Charles Grant (father and son… the grandson seems more WWII inclined)

Excellent pic. Enjoy

Have not a single one… but they really look great!

The Future of Wargaming

If I was younger I will go for a 3D Printer Machine (or whatever its name) because seeing the actual results of a clever use (see pics) the days of alloys, moulds and an era seem prone to vanish quite fast in the near future (not that I care too much about that) I will remain contented with my collections until I die and they are sold out for a pittance or go to the bin (I do not really care).

But see what magnificent start those 3D machines are into… 6mm By The Way…

More from Graham Hilditch

Dear Graham does the most with a very few things… meaning soldiers, sailors and castle (or barracks) The essence is to take a tasteful pic… I could have eliminated the backgrond (see below) but it is charming as it is. Enjoy.

See?

Britain’s smaller scale

I have always collected 54mm traditional Toy Soldiers… but you can not denie those smaller figures are charming too!

Those are from Graham Hilditch.